Baby crib canopy



Dec. 15,1970 M, p., CLEARY 3,546,721

1' BABYCRIB cANoPY l Filed May 15, 196s INVENTOR. I 40 MICHAEL MORENCYCLEARY ATTORN YS United States Patent 3,546,721 BABY CRIB CANOPYMichal-l Morency Cleary, 15309 Depauw, Pacific Palisades, Calif. 90272Filed May 15, 1968, Ser. No. 729,247 Int. Cl. A47d 15/00 U.S. Cl. -97 1Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A canopy is provided in the form of acovering attachable at its edges to the top of a baby crib for securelyand safely conning the baby within the crib. Located at an inner regionof the covering is a pair of complementary curved edges which can bemutually connected and disconnected by a zipper. When the edges aredisconnected, a substantially crescent shaped passageway is formed inthe covering for access into the crib and when the edges are connected,the passageway is tightly closed to conne the baby within the crib.

The present invention relates to a canopy for covering the top of a babycrib and more specifically to a canopy formed at its inner region withan access passageway that can be quickly opened and closed to servicethe baby.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION When babies are enclosed in cribs and leftunattended it is desirable that they be allowed freedom of movementwithin the crib but prevented from escaping from the crib. Unsupervisedbabies often attempt to climb out of their cribs and when this happensthey become exposed to the risk of injury either from falling from thecrib or getting into subsequent mischief. With an aim towardseliminating these injuries, various types of canopies have beenproposed.

Prior art crib canopies are generally of rectangular shape to t over orwithin the rectangular shaped top sections of conventional baby cribs.The canopies are usually secured along their four edges to the crib topby conventional attachment means such as straps and buckles, screws,zipper connectors, snap fasteners, etc. Access is ordinarily gained tothe interior of the crib by either 1) disconnecting three of the canopyedges and using the remaining edge as a hinge to swing the canopy awayfrom the top or (2) disconnecting all four canopy edges and removing theentire canopy from the crib top. In both situations, manipulation of theattachment means to free the canopy from the crib is cumbersome and timeconsuming. When the canopy is constructed of flexible material loosenedportions may droop into the crib and harm or interfere with the baby.

To enable relatively swift access into the crib, the edges ofconventional canopies are often loosely attached to the crib top andtherefore the babys efforts to unloosen the attachment means and escapefrom the crib are also greatly facilitated. To avoid the abovedisadvantage, the crib top and canonpy may be more tightly attachedtogether in a semipermanent arrangement in which case swift access intothe crib is unattainable. When the baby is in need of immediate aid,quick access is crucial.

Another drawback of some prior art crib canopies is that they are madeof stiff material or are made rigid by solid members in which case thebaby may become bruised `by bumping into the stiff material or solidmembers. In other canopies, the attachment means is positioned withinreach of the baby who can then loosen the attachment means to eitherultimately free himself from the crib or create constricted spaces whichmay cause him to be pinched.

3,546,721 Patented Dec. 15, 1970 Briey, the present inventioncontemplates a canopy dimensioned to lit over the top of a baby crib,play pen, or other type of baby enclosure. The canopy is in the form ofa covering of flexible material having on a portion of its marginattachment means for tightly securing the covering to the crib top.Positioned interior of the covering margins, is a pair of complementarycurved edges that define an access passageway through which the baby canbe lowered into or withdrawn from the crib. The edges are mutuallyconnected and disconnected by connection means to close and open theaccess passageway. Preferably the connection means is a Zipper whosepulltab can be used in a rapid single sweeping motion to quickly open orclose the passageway. When a Zipper is employed, a patch of material issecured to the under surface of the covering at a location so as toshield the Zipper pull-tab from the baby when the access passageway isfully closed and prevent the baby from opening the access passageway.

The edges are contoured such that when the passageway is fully opened, asegment of covering material adjacent one edge constitutes a flap thatdepends into the crib interior. The projected lengthwise and widthwisedistances of the curved edges exceed, respectively, one-half andone-sixth the lengthwise and widthwise dimensions of the covering toassure that the access passageway is of adequate size for removing thebaby. The widthwise distance of the curved edges is less than one-halfthe width of the covering so that the flap will not contact the cribinterior. The latter feature is aimed at preventing the flap, which maybe of crescent shape, from harming or interfering with the baby as theattendant is putting the baby into or removing the baby from the crib.

In one embodiment, the attachment means, which is separate from theaccess passageway connection means, may include a pair of cordsdimensioned to be secured to upper head corners of the crib and lacedthrough perforations in opposite lengthwise margins of the covering andtop post sections of the crib sides. The cords may be pulled tight andtheir other ends tied to the upper foot corners of the crib to hold thecovering taut on the crib top. The widthwise marginal portions of thecovering may be formed with retaining loops for receiving stiffeningrods that function to assist in maintaining the covering in generallyplanar shape on the crib top.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective View of the canopy positioned on a baby crib,showing the canopy with its access passageway entirely closed;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the canopy separated from the cribshowing how a crescent shaped ap is formed when the access passageway isfully opened; and,

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional fragmentary view taken along line 3 3 ofFIG. 1 showing how the zipper pulltab is shielded from the baby when theaccess passageway is completely closed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring iirst to FIG. 1, thereis shown a canopy 10 securely positioned on the top of a conventionalbaby crib 11. Crfib 11 includes four corner posts 12, 13, 14 and 1-5 anda drop side 16 which is mounted for Vertical sliding movement betweenlowered and raised positions on space guide rods 17. Drop side 16 hashorizontally aligned upper and lower railings ylit and 19 between whichis vertically arranged a series of spaced posts 20.

Canopy 10 comprises a rectangular shaped covering 21 fabricated from anysuitable flexible material such as muslin or nylon mesh fabric.Lengthwise miargins 22 and 23 of covering 21 abut the inner faces of thecrib top railings such as the railing 18. Alternatively, the lengthwisemargins could be lengthened to fold over the top railings. A pluralityof perforations 24 preferably strengthened by eyelets or grommets arespaced along margins 22 and 23. Covering 21 is tightly andsemipermanently secured to crib 11 by attachment means such as a cord 25alternately looped in a laced configuration through perforaitions 24 andwoven around the top portions of the posts at their connection points tothe upper railings of crib 11. Covering 21 is sized so that it will befully spread across the rectangular top opening of crib 11. First endsof the cords may be tied to the head corner posts 14 and 15. The otherends may then he pulled tight to make covering 21 taut and tied to thefoot corner posts 12 and 13.

With reference now to FIG. 2, the widthwise margins of covering 21 areshown at 26 and 27 and are folded back and stitched at 28 and 29respectively to define retaining loops 30 and 31. To further assure thatcovering 21 will be maintained in taut and substantially planar shape,stiffening rods 32 and 33 are disposed in loops 30 and 31. The ends ofrods 32 and 33 extend beyond the ends of loops 30 and 31 and may rest onthe top railings of the crib adjacent to the guide rods 17 as shown inFIG. 1. These extending ends are suitably tied to adjacent corner postsby the ends of the cords 25 to hold the rods firmly yin position.

As shown in both FIGS. 1 and 2, connection means in the form of a zipperfastener 34 having a customary zipper pull-tab 35 is disposed at acentral portion of covering 21 intenior of its lengthwise and widthwisemargins. Pull-tab 35 may be quickly manipulated in a rapid single sweepmotion to mutually connect and disconnect zipper mating sections oredges 36 and 37. Edges 36 and 37 are of complementary curvedconfigurations, preferably describing an arc less than 180.

When concave edge 36 and convex edge 37 are mutually connected as shownin FIG. 1, the baby can be safely and securely confined inside crib 11.When they are completely disconnected, as shown 1n FIG. 2, an accesspassageway 38 is defined through which the baby may be put into andremoved from the crib. The section of covering material terminating inthe convex edge 37 forms a substantially crescent shaped fiap 39 thatdepends into the crib interior to enlarge access passageway 38. Sincethe covering material lis flexible, flap 39 is easily rearranged intocoplanar relationship with the rest of the covering material when edges36 and 37 are zippered together again.

Passageway `38 and flap 39 are sized to assure that the baby wont bescraped by the zipper teeth of edges 36 and 37. If the edges merelydefine a straight line slit, then either the baby could not fit throughthe slit passageway or he would probably become harmed. Flap 39 isadditionally sized to hang into crib 11 only to a height sufficient tonot contact an average sized baby or any interior portion of the crib.To accomplish these advantages, and with specific reference to FIG. 2,the projected lengthwise distance B of curved edges 36 and 37 exceedsone-half the covering length L, and, the projected widthwise distance Aof edges 36 and 37 falls between onesixth and one-half the coveringWidth W.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a patch 40 is secured to the under surface ofcovering 21, patch 40 being of a size sui'licient to fully cover zipperpull-tab 35 when edges 36 4 and 37 are completely connected together toclose the access passageway. Patch 40 serves to shield zipper pulltab 35and other terminal portions of zipper 34 from the baby who is theneffectively prevented from opening the access passageway and escapingfrom the crib.

OPERATION Keeping the above construction in mind, it can be understoodhow many of the previously described disadvantages of prior art canopiesare overcome or substantially eliminated by the present invention.

Initially, the covering is attached by the cords in the manner describedto effect a semiperm-anent joining of the canopy and crib top so thebaby is prevented from loosening the attachment means to free himselffrom the crib. The connection means `in the form of the zipper istotally separated from.- the attachment means and, is thus unreachableby the baby, but can be swiftly manipulated by an adult in a rapidsingle sweeping movement to open the conveniently located accesspassageway. The flexible flap which hangs into the crib when the accesspassageway is open is shaped to not contact the crfib interior andpreferably terminates at a height spaced from the baby. After a baby isserviced, the access opening can be easily closed by a reverse movement.

From the foregoing it will be evident that the present invention hasprovided a canopy in which all of the various advantages are fullyrealized.

What is claimed is:

1. A baby crib and canopy for covering a crib combination comprising: arectangular shaped covering of ilexible material capable of beingpositioned on the top of the Crip; attachment means located on themargin of the covering for attaching the covering to the crib, a portionof the covering interior of its margins including complementary curvededges that define, when separated, a vsubstantially crescent shapedaccess passageway into the interior of the crib, a zipper for mutuallyconnecting and disconnecting the edges so that when the edges aredisconnected the access passageway is opened and when the edges areconnected the passageway is closed, the edges being contoured so thatwhen they are disconnected covering material adjacent one edgeconstitutes a flap that depends into but is lincapable of contacting theinterior of the crib; a patch secured to the under surface of thecovering so as to shield the zipper pull-tab from the baby when theaccess passageway is completely closed and prevent the baby from openingthe access passageway; and, a baby crib having a top portion coupled tothe baby crib cover.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,557,382 10/1925 Sundback135-15CF 1,871,101 8/1932 Waltz 135-15CF 2,391,871 l/l946 Benson135-14UX 2,586,247 2/1952 Mover 5-97 2,883,678 4/1959 Heffernan et al5-93 2,927,331 3/1960 Ruiz 5-97 2,699,794 l/l955 Potter 13S-5.12,913,029 11/1959 Paton 135-1UX KENNETH DOWNEY, Primary Examiner U.S.Cl. X.R. 13S-5.1

